Baseboard radiator housing



A. B. cHADwlcK 2,847,926

Aug. 19, 1958 AsEBoARD RADIATOR HOUSING 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed July 21,1955 INVENTOR ABRAHAM B. CHA DWICK BY cada 4. M

M' ATTORNEY Aug. 19, 195s A. B. CHADWICK 2,847,926

i BASEBOARD RADIATOR HOUSING Filed July 21, 1955 v Y 2 Sheef.s-Shee1I 2INVEN-roR ABRAHAM B. CHADWICK g. a0 ATTORNEY 2,847,926 Patented Aug. 19,1958 lice BASEBOARD nAnrAroR HOUSING Abraham B. Chadwick, Fern Creek,Ky., assignor to American Radiator fr Standard Sanitary Corporation, NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 2'1, 1955,Serial No. 523,543

6 Claims. (Cl. 98-40) This invention relates to new and usefulimprovements in radiator enclosures and more particularly to a dampercontrol for a baseboard-type radiator housing to control the heatsupplied thereby.

Modern heating systems often employ heating elements which are run alongroom walls and which are surrounded by suitable radiator enclosures.These radiator enclosures provide heat directing means and alsopreferably include a heat control means such a dam- Per which cancontrol the ow of air through the radiator.

Presently known heat controls or dampers for radiator housings haveproven to be unsatisfactory for several reasons. Those of simpleconstruction have proven to be poorly controlled, noisy, and erratic inadjustment. Quieter and more positively operated ones have proven to becomplicated and difficult to install and maintain. Therefore a need hasexisted for a simple, inexpensive and easily installed heat control ordamper suitable for use with radiator enclosures and which can beeconomically used with both short installations and with the modernelongated baseboard-type installations.

An object of the invention is to provide a damper control of simpleconstruction.

Another object is to provide a damper which is supported by the radiatorenclosure.

Another object is to provide a damper having an accessible control meanswhich will remain in any desired position of adjustment.

Another object is to provide a damper which may be readily installed ina baseboard-type radiator housing.

Another object is to provide a damper readily controllable for anydegree of opening between fully closed and fully open positions.

The invention consists in the improved construction and combination ofparts to be more fully described hereinafter and the novelty of whichwill be particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed.

In the accompanying drawings to be taken as a part of thisspecification, there is fully and clearly illustrated a preferredembodiment of the-invention, in which drawmgs:

Fig. 1 is a view in front elevation of a baseboard radiator having theinvention and with certain parts broken away to show internalconstruction;

Fig. 2 is a view in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l taken in thedirection of the arrows; and

Fig. 3 is a view in section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing the slidermechanism.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference, 1 designates arear panel of a baseboard radiator enclosure adapted to seat against aroom wall and having at its bottom edge a longitudinally extending footportion 2 adapted to seat on the oor of the room. At its upper end thepanel 1 has a forwardly extending top wall 3 which terminates at itsforward edge in a downwardly and rearwardly bent hook portion o-rchannel 4. Secured to rear wall 1 there is a plate-like supportingmember or reinforcing angle 5 having forwardly extending flange 6 whichterminates at its upper end in a supporting portion 7 on which the topwall 3 seats. At its lower end the flange 6 has a forwardly extendingarm 8 which terminates in an upwardly extending hook portion 9.Releasably supported on the arm 8 and seating behind the hook portion 9there is a front panel 10, which at its lower edge has an up-turnedchannel l1 releasably held by a down-turned resilient hook on the end ofbracket 12. Extending longitudinally within the lower portion of thehousing there is a 1in-type radiator 13 which is supported by hookmembers 14 carried by brackets 15 extending from the supporting members5.

Extending longitudinally of the housing above the radiator 13 there is adamper member 16 having a plurality of longitudinal spaced cutoutportions or openings 17 through which the arms 8 respectively extend.The damper member 16 is thus supported by the upper edge of the openings17 upon the arms 8 for rotary or pivotal movement. Secured on the rearor lower edge of the damper member 16 there is a clip or bracket 18having an outward extending arm 19 which is apertured to receive a pin20. Secured to the pin 2t) is one end of the operating member 21, whichin the preferred embodiment is a flexible member such as a liexible beadchain. The other end of the operating member or chain 21 is connected toa pin 22 extending through an aperture in a slider arm 23. The sliderarm 23 is secured by welding or the like to the under face of arectangular slide member 24 which is guided for reciprocal slidingmovement in the front and rear side channels 25, 26 of a supportingplate 27. The side channels 25, 26 are formed by bending over the frontand rear edges of the plate 27. The supporting plate 27 is of resilientrsheet metal and is bent upward along its longitudinal center line sothat it is mounted on the top wall 3 by being resiliently held undercompression and snapped between the inner end of the hook portion 4 andthe corner formed by the juncture of the panel 1 and the top wall 3.Stops 34, punched or otherwise suitably formed in both ends of thesupporting plate 27, limit the travel of the slide member 24 to theportion of the supporting plate 27 therebetween. The arm 23 has adownward extending front end portion 28 to which a linger grip knob 29is secured.

The damper 16 is pivotally mounted on the arm 8 of bracket 5 so that itswings about a longitudinal axis offset from its longitudinal centerline. One side of the damper is thus heavier and it swings downwardly sothat the damper normally is held open by gravity.

The clip 18 is fixedly secured to the damper 16 and is restricted tomotion in a vertical arc by the pivotal mounting of the damper 16. Theother end of the chain 21 attached to the pin 22 can only move in ahori- Zontal plane due to the horizontal path of slide member 24. InFig. l the chain- 21 is shown vertically disposed with the damper 16open. When the knob 29 is moved to the left, as shown in dot-dash lines,the effective vertical length of the cable is shortened and hence thelower side of the damper 16 is raised or swung upwardly to move ittoward its closed position.

The friction between slide member 24 and its supporting plate 27 issufficient to hold slide member 24 in any position between end stops 34.The lateral pull when the lower side of the damper 16 is raised,occasioned by the inclined position of the chain 21, adds to thisfriction and tends to hold the slide in position. Thus, the damper 1'6may be left in any position desired. The weight of the lower side of thedamper is sufficient to open `itwhen the knob 29 is shifted to theright. If

desired, the lower side of the damper may be weighted Extending upwardfrom each of the arms 8 there is I a supporting finger 30 which forms,with the flanges 6, upwardly open slots 31. Extending longitudinally ofthe housing and positioned in the slots 31 is the substantially verticalflange 32 of an air splitter member which has its other flange 33extendingforward and upward so that it rests upon the top ends of thefingers 30. The flange 32 is preferablyv bent longitudinally on ahorizontal line so that it engages the front and rear walls of the slots31 so as to tension the flange 32 and hold the splitter member tightlyin position.

The operation of the damper member is as follows: The damper is shown insolid lines in its open or generally vertical position and in dash-dotlines (Figs. l and 2) in its closed position with the lower edgeengaging the lateral flanges of the supporting members 5 which serve asstops to limit the closing movement o f the damper 16. When it isdesired to move the damper from its open to its closed position, theslider knob 29 is moved laterally from right to left (Fig. l), causingthe chain or member 21 to raise they lower edge ofthe damper i6 tothereby pivot the damper 16 to its closed position, as shown in dash-dotlines in Fig. 2. Sliding the knob 29 to the right lowers the end ofchain 2l fastened to the clip 18, allowing the damper 16 to swing by:gravity toward its open or vertical position. When the chain 21 is insubstantially vertical position, the damper 16 will be in substantiallyfull open position. The slider knob 29 may be moved to any desiredposition intermediate its extreme positions to provide for a partialopening of the damper lo as desired.

It will be seen that the present invention provides an improvedbaseboard-type radiator housinghaving van virnproved damper. The damperis supported by the radiator enclosure and has a simple, smooth-acting,quiet control which adjusts the damper for any desired degree of openingbetween fully closed and fully open positions. The improved dampercontrol is adapted for all sizes of dampers, both long or short andnarrow or wide.; The damper controls can be readily located wheredesired along the radiator installation without requiring changes in theradiator assembly, as the damper control is adapted for positioning atany point of a radiator panel.V The damper control is also adapted to beaccessible so that the user may readily manipulate and observe the posi-Ition of the damper control.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. In a baseboard radiator enclosure, a housing having a rear wall andhaving a top wall with a downwardly and rearwardly turned channel alongits front edge, a guide member resiliently held at its front and rearedges in said channel and at the juncture of said rear and top walls,respectively, said guide member having channels at its front and rearedges, a slider having its front and rear edges extending into andguided in said guide member channels, an operating arm secured to saidslider, a

walls, respectively, said guide member having channels at its front andrear edges, a rectangular slider member having its front and rear edgesextending into and slidable in said guide member channels, an operatingarm secured to said slider member and extending from the front towardthe rear of said housing, a bracket member secured to said rear wall andhaving a forward extending supporting arm, a damper member pivoted onsaid supporting arm, a clip member secured to the lower edge of saiddamper member, and a exible member connecting said clip member and saidslider member so that lateral sliding of said operating arm will rotatesaid damper member.

3. In a baseboard radiator enclosure, a housing having a rear wall, atop wall with a downwardly and rearwardly turned channel along its frontedge and a front panel, said rear wall and said front panel comprising aheat directing channel, a guide member resiliently held at its front andrear edges in said channel and at the juncture of said rear and topwalls, respectively, said guide member having channels at its front andrear edges, a slider member having its front and rear edges extendinginto and slidable in said guide member channels, an operating armsecured to said slider member and extending from the front toward therear of said housing, a bracket member secured to said rear wall andhaving a forward extending supporting arm, a damperl member pivoted onsaid supporting arm between said rear wall and said front panel where itis movable between an open position along the heat directing channel toa closed position thereacross, a clip member secured to the lower edgeof said damper member, and a flexible member connecting said clip memberand said slider member so that lateral sliding of said operating armwill move said damper member.

4. A housing having a rear wall and a top wall extending forwardly fromsaid rear wall, a supporting member extending forwardly from said rearwall below said top wall, a front wall spaced from said rear wall andhaving its top edge spaced from said top wall to provide an outletopening from the space between said front and rear walls, the forwardportion of said top wall having a downward and rearward extendingportion forming a rearwardly open channel, a resilient supporting platehaving upwardly diverging front and rear portions, said f front portionhaving a downward and rearward projecting edge portion forming a channelseating in said rearwardly open channel, said rear portion having adownward and forward projecting edge portion forming-a forward facingchannel and seating in the angle between said rear and said top walls,said supporting plate having.

its said front and rear portions flexed toward each other andfrictionally held in position relative to said top wall, a rectangularslider member having its front and rear edges positioned and guidedrespectively in said supporting plate channels, means for shifting saidslider member along said supporting plate, a damper member fulcrumed 0nsaid supporting member to swing on an axis parallel to said rear wall,and means interconnecting said slider member and said damper member sothat shifting of said slider member will move said damper member.

5. A housing having a rear wall and a top wall extending forwardly fromsaid rear wall, a supporting member extending forwardly from said rearwall below said top wall, a front wall spaced from said rear wall andhaving its top edge spaced from said top Wall to provide an outletopening from the space between said front and rear walls, the forwardportion of said top wall having a downward and rearward extendingportion forming a rearwardly open channel, a resilient supporting platehaving upwardly diverging front and rear portions, said front portionhaving a downward and rearward projectingredge portion forming a channelseating in said rearwardly open channel, said rear portionhaving adownward and forward projecting edge portion forming a.

forward facing channel and seating in the angle between said rear andsaid top walls, said supporting plate having its said front and rearportions flexed toward each other and frictionally held in positionrelative to said top wall, a rectangular slider member having its frontand rear edges positioned and guided respectively in said supportingplate channels, a slider arm secured to said slider member and operableto slide said slider member in said supporting plate channels, a dampermember fulcrumed on said supporting member to swing on an axis parallelto said rear wall, a clip member secured to the lower edge portion ofsaid damper member, and a flexible connecting member joining said clipmember to said slider arm so that shifting of said slider arm will movesaid damper member.

6. A housing having a rear wall and a top wall extending forwardly fromsaid rear wall, a plurality of laterally spaced plate-like supportingmembers extending forwardly from said rear wall and engaging theunderside of said top wall to support the same and each having aforwardly extending arm, a front wall spaced from said rear wall andhaving its top edge spaced from said top wall to provide an outletopening from the space between said front and rear walls, the forwardportion of said top ing plate having upwardly diverging front and rearportions, said front portion having a downward and rearward projectingedge portion forming a channel seating in said rearwardly open channel,said rear portion having a downward and forward projecting edge portionforming a forward facing channel and seating in the angle between saidrear and said top walls, said supporting plate having its said front andrear portions ilexed toward each other and frictionally held in positionrelative to said top wall, a rectangular slider member having its frontand rear edges positioned and guided respectively in said supportingplate channels, means for shifting said slider member along saidsupporting plate, a damper member having a plurality of aperturestherethrough, each said aperture receiving one of said arms so that saiddamper member is fulcrumed on said supporting member, and meansinterconnecting said slider member and said damper member so thatshifting of said slider member will move said damper member.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS778,755 Mathis Dec. 27, 1904 2,708,569 Boarman May 17, 1955 2,771,833Halliday et al. Nov. 27, 1956

